The arena crew finished the reset in their usual four minutes.
The crowd used the time the way it had been using the time between fights all day—processing what had just happened, arguing about what came next, replaying the moments that had defined the previous fight. Jelo's name was still moving through the stands with the particular energy of something that had just confirmed itself, the noise of the previous finish still present in the air the way noise lingered in enclosed spaces after the source had stopped.
But the bracket kept moving.
Fight 6 was next.
The announcer raised the microphone with the particular manner of someone who had found his second wind—the energy of the afternoon building rather than depleting, the quality of the fights feeding his performance rather than drawing from it.
"Fight six."
The crowd reorganized itself back into attention.
"From Aurelius Academy—Tyke."
